Momentum in Ottawa's house sales shifts to the west and south

Ottawa’s home buyers showed some resistance in July to prices in popular neighbourhoods from Westboro to New Edinburgh. Instead, they travelled further west and south in search of less expensive houses still within commuting distance.

That, at least, is the picture that emerges from sales data published Friday by the Ottawa Real Estate Board, which drew on reports from 3,000 realtors who use the multiple listing service.

The board reported the benchmark price for single family homes across the city in July was $428,800, up eight per cent year over year. The increases ranged from 1.6 per cent in the city’s wealthiest neighbourhood of Rockcliffe Park to 12.1 per cent for the district of Hintonburg-West Centretown.

Of the 10 districts showing the fastest growth in house prices, fully half were clustered in the west end, including Barrhaven, Kanata, Stittsville, Qualicum-Bruce Farm and Bells Corners, where the most homes sold in the $400,000 to $480,000 range.

Board president Ralph Shaw noted “a surge in unit sales in the rural areas, particularly in the west end.” He said an important factor was the greater availability of schools, recreational facilities and shopping compared to downtown.

An unusual feature of July’s housing map was the presence of four Westboro area districts in the bottom 10 as far as price increases go. This strip hugs the Ottawa River from Parkdale Avenue west to Woodroffe Avenue, and has until last month consistently seen among the biggest hikes in house prices. Some buyers may be balking at the resulting values, but there’s also a statistical anomaly in at least one of the districts.

In Carlingwood-Westboro (from Churchill Avenue to Woodroffe Avenue), for instance, the benchmark price in July was nearly $795,000, considered fairly lofty by Ottawa standards. That was a 4.8 per cent jump compared to July 2017, the third-lowest price gain among the city’s 46 real estate districts. However, this increase came despite an unusually large bump in house prices in the same month a year earlier. In short, look for this district to return to the top 10 in August.

The board’s benchmark prices adjust for items such as number of bathrooms, type of roof and other house characteristics in an effort to better gauge the underlying market.

It also provides data on average prices, which often show similar patterns. The average sale price for residential properties in July was $441,200, up 5.0 per cent year over year. Condominiums sold in July fetched an average $280,500, up 5.3 per cent over the same period.

Despite an uncomfortably humid month, which might have deterred some potential buyers, Ottawa realtors sold more than 1,600 residential properties and condominiums in July, up 5.9 per cent year over year. This helped to reduce the number of active listings to a shade more than 5,000, down from 6,000 in July 2017. The increased tightness in supply likely helped drive up prices.

The strength in the market can be gauged, in part, by how long it takes to sell a house or condo. On average, residences that sold in July spent 38 days on the market while condominiums took 53 days to sell. Time on the market can vary enormously depending on the neighbourhood and initial offering price.

Prices for condos, in particular, were wildly different across the city, as were price movements. As might be expected, condos downtown were the most expensive, with the board reporting an average sale price in July of $415,600 (up 12.4 per cent), while condominiums in the west sold for $346,300 (up 2.4 per cent). The least expensive condos were in the south, with an average sale price of $222,800 (down 8.5 per cent from July 2017), while condos in the east sold for an average $293,200 (up 26.3 per cent based on 24 sales).

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